American Journal of Medicine: We Demand Opposing Viewpoint Be Allowed to Speak!

The March 2013 issue of The American Journal of Medicine (AJM), the official journal of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), is running an article entitled Common Misconceptions About Lyme Disease, by John J. Halperin, MD, Phillip Baker, PhD, Gary P. Wormser, MD.

The article claims to have "debunked" chronic Lyme disease, essentially proclaiming that if you still test positive after treatment and/or have symptoms, then you are suffering from something else, most likely a psychiatric condition.

Why is all of this so important? Because it is this journal and others like it that are responsible for the education and continuing education of our medical students and physicians, as well as allied health professionals. Cavalier disinformation like this is extremely deleterious to all of humanity. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP.

LET'S KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE UNTIL THEY ALLOW FOR AN ARTICLE FROM THE OPPOSING VIEWPOINT!

I will continue to notify the American Journal of Medicine as this petition gains signatures and will promote the issues behind it's existence to all who will listen. This injustice cannot be ignored!

ABSTRACT: Lyme disease, infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, is a focally endemic tick-transmitted zoonosis. During the 3 decades since the responsible spirochete was identified, a series of misconceptions and misunderstandings have become widely prevalent, leading to frequent misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Persistent misconceptions concern the reliability of available diagnostic tools, the signs and symptoms of nervous system involvement, the appropriate choice and duration of antimicrobial therapy, the curability of the infection, and the cause of symptoms that may persist in some patients after treatment. Concern about disparate perspectives led the Institute of Medicine to review the subject. In this article we review the principal misconceptions, discussing their origins and the best currently available scientific evidence related to each one.

All text by Lucretia "Creda" Perilli, except what's in caps and directly adjacent.

Letter to

American Journal of Medicine

AJM Editors

We DEMAND Lyme-Literate Medical Professionals be allowed to share their point-of-view on the Chronic Lyme controversy. We DEMAND an article that shows the faults of the IDSA's stance on Chronic Lyme be allowed for publication in the American Journal of Medicine!